OBJECTIVES AND PERFORMANCE OF THE DEPARTMENT
FOR CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT: GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE FIFTH
REPORT FROM THE CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT COMMITTEE, SESSION 1997-98
On 10 June 1998 we published our Fifth Report of
Session 1997-98 on Objectives and Performance of the Department
for Culture, Media and Sport as House of Commons Paper 742 (1997-98).
We have now received the following reply from the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport:
Letter from the Secretary of State to
the Chairman of the Committee
Thank you for sending me a copy of your Committee's
Report on the Objectives and Performance of the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport. I attach our response.
The timing of your inquiry, during the Comprehensive
Spending Review (CSR), meant that I was inevitably constrained
in some of my answers. This may perhaps have coloured the impression
received by some of the Committee's members. However, since your
Report was published the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced
the results of the CSR, and I am delighted that the importance
of the sectors which we sponsor has been fully recognised, and
that they will benefit from an additional £290 million over
the next three years. We have also, for the first time, made a
clear long-term guarantee to the arts, sport, heritage and charities
good causes that they will keep their current Lottery share of
16_ per cent each, beyond 2001, into the long-term. This represents
a new and enhanced investment in our cultural life, and we are
placing new responsibilities on funded bodies to agree improvements
in efficiency, access and private sector sponsorship. We will
invest to secure specific public benefits. We aim to improve the
effectiveness of support for DCMS sectors in the regions. We shall
look too at the role for the Department across sectors as a whole
rather than just the traditionally subsidised elements.
Following the White Paper "Modern Public Services
for Britain—Investing in Reform" (Cm 4011) I have begun
a broad consultation on my conclusions from the DCMS's Spending
Review, and I am enclosing a copy of the consultation papers.[1]
I am seeking views on the conclusions which we have reached by
18 September on tourism, to feed into the development of our tourism
strategy, and by 2 October on the other areas on which we are
consulting.
29 July 1998
1 Not printed. Back
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